1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device stand and, more specifically, to a display device stand that allows the smoother adjustment of a monitor.
2. Background Art
With the increasing amounts of information that are managed and displayed using computers, the development of higher quality monitors has been an area of extensive research. This research has led to improvements in the miniaturization of internal components, in the reduction of monitor thickness, and in the quality of picture displayable by a monitor.
A cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor may be constructed using a CRT display unit, a stand unit, and a stand-display interface. The CRT display unit's front and rear housings are assembled into a single housing containing both a CRT and a printed circuit board (PCB). The stand unit supports the display unit on a support surface and includes a plurality of connectors for power and signal cables.
The swiveling devices used for CRT monitor stands may be constructed with a recess that is positioned on the top center of the stand unit and rotatably receives the bottom surface of a bushing integrated into the stand-display interface. A boss projecting from the bottom center of the recess having two diametrically-opposite wing projections may be used to engage the display unit. Two protrusions used to stop the rotation of the monitor can be positioned on the bottom surface of the recess diametrically opposed to each other. Located in the center of the bottom surface of the stand-display interface is a coupling hole that engages the winged boss. The diametrically opposite wing projections hold the stand-display interface, and thus the monitor, onto the stand.
Some monitor stands that are representative of the art are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,625 to Beak entitled Monitor Stand Assembly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,463, to Sung entitled Monitor Stand Assembly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,153 to Granzow entitled Tilt and Swivel Support, U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,503 to Gahan entitled Swivel Mountings, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,713 entitled Video Display Support Joint. Due to increasing user and application requirements, some CRT monitors use additional PCBs to increase the performance capabilities of the monitor. While additional PCBs have increased performance, they have also increased the weight of contemporary high performance CRT monitors.
With the adjusting of the angle between the monitor and the stand unit of the heavier CRT monitors, frictional forces between the concave socket in the stand unit and the convex ball portion of the stand display interface are generated due to the intense concentration of the monitor's weight onto the contact areas. Because the convex ball portion of the stand display interface is in contact with the overall area of the concave socket of the stand unit, the total force generated by friction can prevent the smooth movement of the stand when the monitor is adjusted.
One technique for overcoming the problem of jittery monitor motion is to coat the concave socket in the stand unit with a Freon based lubricant. Freon based lubricant, however, is very hard to separately collect and does not decompose, thus tending to contaminate the soil or earth with which it comes into contact.
The stand unit may be manufactured using injection molded plastic. While this method is very economical, the type of material used with injection molding techniques tends to produce dust (white powder) when the stand display interface moves against the stand unit due to the large frictional area and frictional force between the convex ball portion of the stand display interface and the concave socket in the stand unit. This problem is especially significant when the monitor stand is constructed out of PC/ABS resin because of the increased amount of dust that is generated by the frictional interaction of the stand components when they are made out of this material. When a user tilts or swivels the monitor, white powder falls on the stand unit, thus decreasing the product's reliability and providing an irritation to the user. Additionally, stand lubricant is designed to be sprayed onto the stand display interface manually and depending upon the amount of spray, the stand display interface can be either too tight or too loosely fitted into the concave socket in the stand unit. If the fit between the stand display unit and the stand unit is too loose due to excessive coating of the lubricant, the monitor's eccentrically positioned center of gravity will cause the CRT to roll backwards or forwards. This will cause the monitor to either face upward or downward when it is in an equilibrium position. Thus, the smoothness of the tilt and swivel of the monitor is unscientifically determined by the amount of lubricant added and the condition of the worker on the day that the lubricant is manually applied to the monitor stand. Furthermore, using injection molded plastic stands makes it difficult to create smooth surfaces, depending upon their injection status or change of temperature, for both the concave socket in the stand unit and the convex ball portion of the stand display interface. The roughened contact surface further prevents smooth adjustment of the monitor when adjusting the angle of screen display, thus causing the CRT monitor to clatter or shake.
I believe that it may be possible to improve on the design of contemporary monitor stands. The typical monitor stands for heavy display devices are hard to build economically without compromising reliability and while reducing the amount of dust generated along slip surfaces in the monitor stand. A monitor that is economical to build, has improved weight distribution, smoother adjustability of the display device relative to the stand, that reduces the amount of dust generated due to frictional contact along the slip surfaces, that reduces the area of slip areas between slidably contacting monitor stand components, and avoids the reliability drawbacks of manually applied lubricant would increase the competitiveness of the corresponding monitors in the market place and improve the quality of product that is manufactured.